TELUS investing $110 million to connect Richmond and Steveston homes and businesses directly to advanced fibre optic network

RICHMOND, British Columbia, June 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TELUS is investing $110 million to connect more than 90 per cent of homes and businesses in Richmond and Steveston directly to its fibre optic network. Construction work is currently underway, and TELUS anticipates connecting the majority of homes and businesses by the spring of 2019.

“Broadband Internet is essential in our emerging digital economy,” said Tony Geheran, TELUS Executive Vice-President and President of Broadband Networks. “Whether you’re looking for the fastest symmetrical upload and download speeds or the most reliable network technology, a direct connection to the TELUS PureFibre network delivers it all, making it the best network available in Richmond. This new connectivity will boost the local economy by encouraging investment and helping local businesses thrive, whether they’re established large operations or small home-based start-ups. For households, a direct fibre connection will pave the way for next-generation home entertainment and innovative smart-home technologies that promise to transform our homes and enrich our lives in ways we’ve yet to imagine.”

The gigabit-enabled TELUS PureFibre network is among the most advanced communications infrastructure available in the world today, enabling residents to immediately take advantage of dramatically faster Internet speeds of at least 150 megabits per second, while businesses, schools, healthcare providers and other institutions can access even more speed and capacity. The TELUS PureFibre network offers symmetrical service, which provides significant benefits for applications like video conferencing, gaming, home security, retail and healthcare. As demand and Internet technologies evolve in the coming years the TELUS PureFibre network will continuously enable offer faster speeds and more capacity.

Local healthcare providers, educators and technology companies will be able to draw upon the technology to reimagine how they deliver existing services and develop entirely new solutions. This new fibre optic infrastructure will also be the backbone of TELUS’ wireless network, enabling more wireless capacity and faster speeds throughout the region, and lays the groundwork for 5G technologies in the years ahead.

TELUS strives for social and digital equality in the all connected world, and recognizes that a connection to the Internet is fundamental to youth and their families’ success in the digital economy. In keeping with their philosophy to Give Where We Live, for every sign-up on the TELUS PureFibre network in Richmond this fall, TELUS will donate $25 to S.U.C.C.E.S.S. up to $20,000. With more than 20 locations in Metro Vancouver, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. assists new immigrants, provides counselling to families, promotes the development of children and youth, and offers a variety of education, business development and employment related training to community members. Since 2000, TELUS, its team members and retirees have contributed more than $1.7 million and volunteered 89,000 hours to charities and community organizations in Richmond.

This investment is part of TELUS’ commitment to invest $4.7 billion throughout British Columbia between 2017 and 2020, at no cost to taxpayers. For more information, please visit telus.com/purefibre.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX:T) (NYSE:TU) is Canada’s fastest-growing national telecommunications company, with $13.1 billion of annual revenue and 12.9 million subscriber connections, including 8.8 million wireless subscribers, 1.7 million high-speed Internet subscribers, 1.3 million residential network access lines and 1.1 million TELUS TV customers. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services, including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video. TELUS is also Canada's largest healthcare IT provider, and TELUS International delivers business process solutions around the globe.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed over $482 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 7.7 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Created in 2005 by President and CEO Darren Entwistle, TELUS’ 13 Canadian community boards and 5 International boards have led the Company’s support of grassroots charities and have contributed more than $60 million in support of 5,595 local charitable projects, enriching the lives of more than 2 million children and youth, annually. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:

TELUS Media Relations

Liz Sauvé